Bob Berney joins Graham King and Peter Schlessel for new company FilmDistrict

Graham King, the Academy Award-winning producer behind The Departed and current release The Town, is forming a new acquisition, distribution, production, and financing company with Sony veteran Peter Schlessel and indie marketer Bob Berney called FilmDistrict. The company’s mandate is to distribute between four and eight wide commercial releases per year via Sony’s TriStar and Triumph labels.

Schessel, who already serves as the president of King’s GK Films, will add CEO of FilmDistrict to his titles. (His most recent credit is bringing District 9 to Sony last summer.) Berney, who abruptly left Apparition Films just days before the Cannes Film Festival was set to begin, will serve as president of theatrical distribution. He’s the mastermind behind such indie successes as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Passion of the Christ, and Pan’s Labyrinth. FilmDistrict should be well received by Hollywood, who can now count the company as a new buyer in an era where there are few.